Promoting creativity and team-building by buildingtransforming Transformer Halloween costumes
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Albert Einstein
Introduction: One of the most valuable skills students can cultivate in mathematics, and in real life, is creativity. Solving problems that have never before been solved before produces an inner self-satisfaction that few people can assimilate. Andrew Wiles, who spent 8 years of his life proving Fermat’s Last Theorem, reflected on comparing future math problems to Fermat. This is what he said: “I'm sure that some of them will be very hard and I'll have a sense of achievement again, but nothing will mean the same to me - there's no other problem in mathematics that could hold me the way that this one did.” But creative genius is not only appreciated in academics. In business, exciting and unique products sell and the people who invent them become wealthy men and women. According to Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
Objective: Construct a transforming Halloween costume of one of the Transformer robots for use in the ASFG Halloween parade. A secondary objective is to help your teacher live out his fantasy of becoming Optimus Prime.
Organization: This is a team project; the due date is one day before ASFG’s Annual Halloween Parade which will most likely take place on Friday, October 29. No class time will be devoted to working on this project, although your teacher will be available after school and on weekends for consultation. The project is classified “Top Secret – Eyes Only” so you cannot talk about what you are creating with friends or family. (OK, if your parents ask you why you need to use the garage for the next month, you can tell them.) I suggest we split the class into two teams of five students each: one team contructs an Optimus Prime costume for your pre-calculus teacher and the other team constructs a Transformer (Autobot or Decepticon) costume of their choice. Except for the team who is selected to build Optimus Prime, student teams are responsible for funding their own project. The maximum budget for Optimus Prime is 1,000 pesos; this will be paid by your teacher. Here are the team assignments. Everyone has something to contribute to the project. Some of you are more interested in the construction aspects of the costume, others may be engrossed in the artistic details and still others enjoy video editing and production. We need everyone’s talents for an outstanding result.
Team A
Team B
Berny
Yong
Carlos
Alejandro
Maria Ines
Fernando
Pilar
Jandra
Sae
Estefania
Requirements: The Halloween costume must depict a transformable Transformer robot that remains true to the comic book or movies. For example, if you make an Optimus Prime costume, Prime should transform to a blue and red Freightliner/Peterbilt semi tractor-trailer. If you make a Bumblebee costume, Bumblebee should transform to a yellow and black Chevrolet Camaro. The costume should be relatively comfortable so that the wearer can walk around the track under his or her own power and vision, transforming three or four times along the way. Simply put, the goal of the costume is to absolutely “blow away” all Halloween attendees. Early Childhood students should be in awe. If a “For sale to highest bidder” sign were placed on the costume after the parade, it should sell for at least 1,000 pesos (or considerably more as droves of ASFG Warriors and their parents take the bidding war to outrageous price levels!). Examples of homemade Transformer costumes that would have the desired impact are:
Although the costume is the most tangible product of the project, other obligatory components are:
A daily journal in a spiral notebook that clearly (but informally) articulates the details of the team’s ideas, designs, material queries, and construction progress
An appropriately edited video illustrating the design and construction process.
Project Submission:
1. Due to the “Top Secret” nature of this project, the costume should not be brought to school on the due date specified. Instead, the team should make the costume available for their teacher’s inspection at a mutually convenient location. 2. The instructional video (.avi) should be turned in on a compact disk (CD). No email or flash memory submissions please. Both the CD and the CD case must bear the name and period of all team members. The team is responsible for ensuring that the files are not corrupted and can be opened by their teacher’s computer. 3. The original hard copy daily journal should be turned in with the CD with name and period of all team members on the front cover.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Albert Einstein
Introduction: One of the most valuable skills students can cultivate in mathematics, and in real life, is creativity. Solving problems that have never before been solved before produces an inner self-satisfaction that few people can assimilate. Andrew Wiles, who spent 8 years of his life proving Fermat’s Last Theorem, reflected on comparing future math problems to Fermat. This is what he said:
“I'm sure that some of them will be very hard and I'll have a sense of achievement again, but nothing will mean the same to me - there's no other problem in mathematics that could hold me the way that this one did.”
But creative genius is not only appreciated in academics. In business, exciting and unique products sell and the people who invent them become wealthy men and women. According to Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
Objective: Construct a transforming Halloween costume of one of the Transformer robots for use in the ASFG Halloween parade. A secondary objective is to help your teacher live out his fantasy of becoming Optimus Prime.
Organization: This is a team project; the due date is one day before ASFG’s Annual Halloween Parade which will most likely take place on Friday, October 29. No class time will be devoted to working on this project, although your teacher will be available after school and on weekends for consultation. The project is classified “Top Secret – Eyes Only” so you cannot talk about what you are creating with friends or family. (OK, if your parents ask you why you need to use the garage for the next month, you can tell them.) I suggest we split the class into two teams of five students each: one team contructs an Optimus Prime costume for your pre-calculus teacher and the other team constructs a Transformer (Autobot or Decepticon) costume of their choice. Except for the team who is selected to build Optimus Prime, student teams are responsible for funding their own project. The maximum budget for Optimus Prime is 1,000 pesos; this will be paid by your teacher.
Here are the team assignments. Everyone has something to contribute to the project. Some of you are more interested in the construction aspects of the costume, others may be engrossed in the artistic details and still others enjoy video editing and production. We need everyone’s talents for an outstanding result.
Requirements:
The Halloween costume must depict a transformable Transformer robot that remains true to the comic book or movies. For example, if you make an Optimus Prime costume, Prime should transform to a blue and red Freightliner/Peterbilt semi tractor-trailer. If you make a Bumblebee costume, Bumblebee should transform to a yellow and black Chevrolet Camaro.
The costume should be relatively comfortable so that the wearer can walk around the track under his or her own power and vision, transforming three or four times along the way. Simply put, the goal of the costume is to absolutely “blow away” all Halloween attendees. Early Childhood students should be in awe. If a “For sale to highest bidder” sign were placed on the costume after the parade, it should sell for at least 1,000 pesos (or considerably more as droves of ASFG Warriors and their parents take the bidding war to outrageous price levels!).
Examples of homemade Transformer costumes that would have the desired impact are:
Although the costume is the most tangible product of the project, other obligatory components are:
Project Submission:
1. Due to the “Top Secret” nature of this project, the costume should not be brought to school on the due date specified. Instead, the team should make the costume available for their teacher’s inspection at a mutually convenient location.
2. The instructional video (.avi) should be turned in on a compact disk (CD). No email or flash memory submissions please. Both the CD and the CD case must bear the name and period of all team members. The team is responsible for ensuring that the files are not corrupted and can be opened by their teacher’s computer.
3. The original hard copy daily journal should be turned in with the CD with name and period of all team members on the front cover.
Project Grading:
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N.B. Each team member receives the same score for aspects 1, 2 and 3.
* The “Collaboration” score is the mean score given an individual team member by his or her teammates.